Did Eagles Center Jason Kelce Pretend To Yell At Jalen Hurts To Fool The Chiefs?
I don't know if you know this, but Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce are brothers. And, their mother is Donna Kelce. Have TV broadcasts mentioned this before?
Much is being made of the fact that Jason Kelce has never defeated brother Travis in an NFL game. That includes, of course, last season's Super Bowl.
Well, Jason Kelce looks like a man on a mission on Monday Night Football against the Chiefs. The Eagles center perhaps pulled a new trick out of bag, and that's saying something for a 13-year NFL veteran.
On a second-and-3 play, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts appeared to call out a shift in the offensive line's protection. Kelce turns around, shaking his head and verbally yells, "No, no, no!"
Kelce, as the center, is responsible for the protection calls for the offensive line. Hurts, as the quarterback, can choose to slide that protection. He would normally do that on a pass play where he identifies a blitz.
If he were changing anything else -- like the play call -- Kelce can't disagree. That would throw off the entire play. However, if he disagrees with Hurts' assessment of where the defense plans to bring pressure, he might try to overrule him.
Thus, I interpret this situation as Kelce pretending to overrule Hurts' protection call. Why? So that the Chiefs believe the Eagles are running a pass play.
Jalen Hurts kept the ball on a designed quarterback run, and Kelce became the lead blocker after pulling out to the left side.
Later, on the same drive, Kelce pulled out to the left again. This time, he was the lead blocker for running back D'Andre Swift.
Kelce got a free release into the second level and Chiefs safety Justin Reid had no chance. Kelce tossed him to the grass as Swift scampered for 17 yards.
The Eagles went on to score a touchdown on the drive to tie the game. Jason Kelce is tired of hearing about how he can't beat his little brother and is doing everything he can to finally put that streak to rest.